France, Thursday, April 11, 2019

Note to all: You may eventually receive this post with pictures, but for now I am sending without photos as the various wi-fi systems in the hotels we are staying do not always transmit pictures well.  I will resend with photos when we get to good wi-fi places - i.e. Paris.

Bonjour mon Amis! We arise this morning to a much more comfortable day than yesterday. After packing up and schlepping our bags down the two flights of stairs, or across the garden, we stop for another lovely breakfast from our hosts. Today, again we had croissants, butter, jam, baguettes, coffee and egg cream - which is a cold creme brûlée without the burned crust on top - very tasty but a bit sweet.

We pack up the beast and head this morning to Mont Saint Michel, on the north coast of France, just at the edge of the region of Normandy. For those who have never heard or seen pictures of Mont St. Michel, it is an island mount some 100 yards off the coast, isolated at high tide. This is quite the tourist production now, huge parking lots some 3-4 kilometres from the attraction- you walk to the shuttle bus loading areas. Parenthetically, these shuttle buses are unlike any seen before. There is a driver’s position at either end. When the driver pulls in for pick up of a load, he steps out of the vehicle, walks around to the other end, and assumes his new position. No turning around and quite efficient.

The original purpose is as a monastery and abbey. It is still a functioning church, and we witnessed a service in progress as we wandered through. The winding streets as you make your way up to the abbey are flanked by myriads of small shops and restaurants, all catering to the throng of tourists - and throng is the only word to use. Even this early in the season, with the cold wind blowing, there're people everywhere - young children bored out of their heads, old people struggling to climb the steps, and every age in between.

We stood in line for nearly an hour to buy the tickets and enter the abbey itself. Prices of entry was €10.00 but free if you were a family of 4 with children or under the age of 26. Curious but we suppose designed to encourage education.

Once inside the huge abbey, the crowd was swallowed up and it was unusually sparse - it was a huge building. We finished our self guided tour and then out and down the hill to find a restaurant (by this time 1:30 in the afternoon) and stood in another line for 1/2 hour. The food was so-so but the problem was that half of our foursome received food, while, after 30 minutes the other half had not we finally spoke up and then received the food, although not really worth it but conveniently, touristically over priced!

We took our leave, walked down the mount and waited for shuttle buses back to our car park. Off then to the city of Bayeux, our headquarters for the next two nights.

Along the way, on the four lane highway, we discovered a McDonalds! We pulled in for a rest break. Marvellously modern and unlike any we had seen before, although, admittedly, none of us are habitue’s of the establishment. A Coke and a few chocolate sundaes later and we were back on the road.

We arrived around 5:45, and then beat feet to the tapestry museum to get that off our list. We arrived at 6:00 to view before the 6:30 closing. Unfortunately the doors close at 5:45 for clearing of the museum. Oh well, we get an “A” for effort.

We check into our abode, the Hotel Churchill, city center but again no parking lot, which means secureing a metered spot on the street. Finally a room on the first floor with a nice shower, TV and a king sized bed. We find the recommended restaurant for what we thought would be a light meal. Soup and Charcuterie/cheese board with a bottle wine. We received all off this, but we arrived at 7:00 PM and finally took our leave at 9:15 PM. Speedy service is a foreign concept to the French, as is an early bedtime. We were exhausted, but agreed that it again was a good day.